This week’s letter is “S”—I’m using both the author’s drawing and her prompt words: Skunk, School, Scrubbed, Snug, Sense of Wonder. Click the link to learn more about this weekly prompt, and join in! https://nopenotpam.com/2022/08/07/a-letter-a-week-s/
But for the name “Sally”, this tale is 100% autobiographical!😉
Sally’s sense of wonder
About school lasted only
Through First Grade
Reading was easy, fun, and
Her teacher clearly considered
Her the star pupil…
By the next September
Mere thought of 12 full years
Of compulsory education
Became a stone tied ’round her neck…
The surprising kindness of pretty
Miss P frightened her initially
When the young teacher
Took her to the Supplies room
For a chat, but Sally soon felt snug
Seated on Miss P’s lap as she
Asked in a soft voice, “Can you
Tell me, are you sad…or scared?
Don’t you like the other children?”
NO one had ever asked Sally
How she felt about anything
She had no idea what to reply—
She could hardly speak about
The well-scrubbed Steven B
Who was otherwise a skunk
The way he habitually picked her
Up and wouldn’t put her down
Till he finished squeezing her…
Nor could she reveal her home life…
Stressed by the obligation
To say something to Miss P, she
Admitted she couldn’t “do numbers”
Miss P assured her she’d help her
Learn, and briefly hugged her.
Math never did become Sally’s forte…
And though Steven ceased lifting
Her off the ground on a whim, his
Attentions continued through Jr High
Until her family moved out of state ~
She never forgot sweet, insightful Miss P…
And decades later, after her divorce
Sally wondered if she and Steven
Might have married, had she
Not left town… he’d seemed
Sincerely smitten, despite her
Gawky, not-yet-lovely adolescence.
©Leyde Ryan, 2022 ~ All rights reserved.
Hourglass Poetry 